Free Dance Preview and Virtual Program Nov.6 2:00 am

Pechalat and Bourzat are carrying such a lead into the free dance, that it seems that they have this competition wrapped up. It would appear that their strategy of multiple outings for their programs early in the season has paid off, and the switch two weeks ago to the Dr. Zhivago soundtrack for their SD were very smart. In fact, it is entirely likely that the order of finish after the free dance will be just the same as after the short dance.

Isabella Cannuscio and Ian Lorello USA (ISU Ranked 48th) 38.34 points in the SD
Coach: Karen Ludington, A. Kirsanov, C. Moxley
Choreographer: Alexander Kirsanov
FD West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein
6th at JGPF last year
4th in US Juniors last year
5th at LPIDC in the FD
This is their debut on the Grand Prix.
Xueting Guan and Meng Wang CHN (ISU Ranked 47th) 40.19 in the SD
Coach: Ge Gao, Chao Liu
Choreographer: Tianyi Zhang
FD The Sands of Time (from Prince of Persia soundtrack)
4th at Chinese Nationals in Seniors
9th at 4CC's

Madison Hubbell and Kieffer Hubbell USA (Ranked 12th) 44.47 in the SD
Coach: Anjelika Krylova, Pasquale Camerlengo, E. Swallow
Choreographer: Juri Tchesnitchenko, Jaroslava Netchaeva
FD Ocean Club by Yello; Jungle Bill by Yello; Moments in Love by Art of Noise; Jungle Bill by Yello
6th at Senior Nationals
3rd at 4CC's
4th at Finlandia
4th in the SD with 50.89, with level 4 in both segments of the GW
75.48 in the FD
Hubbell's had a catastrophic fall in the SD, resulting in a 3 point deduction, plus loss of points for an element

Kharis Ralph and Asher Hill CAN (ISU Ranking 19th)
Coach: Carol Lane, Juris Razguljaevs
Choreographer: Carol Lane, Juris Razguliaevs
FD Summertime by George Gershwin; Senie
4th in Seniors at Canadian Nationals last year
6th at 4CCs last year

WARMUP GROUP 2

Xintong Huang and Xun Zheng CHN (ISU ranking 17th) 49.70 in the SD
Coach: Hongyan Xi
Choreographer: Natalia Linichuk
FD Singing in the Rain (from American in Paris)
2nd Senior Nationals last year
4th at 4CC's last year
19th at the Olympics last year

Nora Hoffman and Maxim Zavozin HUN (ISU Ranked 22nd) 52.69 in the SD
Coach: Alexei Gorshkov, Sergei Petukhov
Choreographer: Elena Garanina
FD Nagyidai Ciganok (Gypsy Witch) soundtrack by Experidance
Hungarian National Champions for 2 years
13th at Olympics
10th at Worlds
1st at Nepela
2nd at Finlandia
Level 2 and Level 3 on the GW at Finlandia, finishing 2nd with 54.75
81.77 in the FD at Finlandia
Level 3 in both segments on the GW at Nepela, finishing 1st with 59.15
86.26 in the FD at Nepela
They would have scored a bit higher in the SD, if Max hadn't missed his hold on his foot in the twizzles.

Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev RUS (Ranked 18th by the ISU) 55.85 in the SD
FD Melody of the White Nights by Isaak Schwartz
2nd at Russian Nationals
9th at Europeans
8th at Worlds
15th at Olympics
He had problems with his 2nd twizzle, making it impossible to do the third twizzle for level 4. They also got a one point deduction, perhaps for a lift that went too long?

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali ITA (Ranked ISU 7th) 57.21 in the SD
Coach: Natalia Linichuk, Paola Mezzadri, G. Karpanosov
Choreographer: Corrado Giordani, Barbara Melica, Ludmila Vlasova
FD Manolete From "Flamenco" by Pepe Romero: Que se ven desde el conquero; De mi vera te fuistes
7 time Italian National Champions, including last year
3rd at Worlds
2nd at Europeans
5th at Olympics
They were some 6 points lower in the SD than Pechalat and Bourzat due to TES alone, due to his catching his skate in her dress in the second segment of the Golden Waltz during one of the step segments used to determine the level of the Golden Waltz second segment. They only scored Level 2 in the midline step, also.

Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat FRN (Ranked 2nd by the ISU) 64.12 in the SD
Coach: Alexander Zhulin, Oleg Volkov, Maxim Staviski
FD City Lights - Medley - London Symphonic Orchestra
Choreographer:
7th at Olympics
4th at Worlds
1st at Finlandia
1st at Nebelhorn
3rd GPF last year
90.79 in the FD at Nebelhorn (1st)
At Finlandia SD, level 2 & Level 3 on the GW, first overall with 59.96
91.80 in the FD
They got mostly level 4's in the SD.

I'll try to do some PBP for those who can't see this. Please forgive my mistakes. It's 2 in the am and I'm propping my eyes open with toothpicks.

Cannuscio & Lorello
West Side Story
He has a red silk shirt, gray pants.
and a grey neck scarf-gives it an odd cowboy feel
She has a red Latin dress
with wide ruffles on the skirt, spaghetti straps
sparklies on it
red gloves?
red bow in hair
pair spin and reverse
sudden music change
lift spread eagle she stands on knees
another lift around his neck and then betweeen his legs
hop into twizzles first set not great
Maria I just met a girl
f/w in holds.
kind of slow
skid on side of her boot into rotational lift
kissing
Mambo! Mambo!
speed up a bit
f/w in hold again
over his neck into rotational lift
to end
one thing I'll say-they kept the energy up to the end.
63.49
101.83 total

Guan and Wang
Prince of Persia (Sands of Time)
White dress on her with gold hobnails
he has black pants red sash
red wide edging on white shirt that flows into his sash
raggy edges on the shirt
some kind of martial arts looking buckles on his arms
start with leg to side twizzles
hands behind back twizzles
very slow f/w almost lost the hold
music not helping them
lift over neck onto his lap
holds her while she's in a spiral
injto pair spin good speed for a pair at the bottom
of the standing
his hair looks very stringy &overlong
she stands on his foot and does a pose with Egyptian hands
dramatick eyestaring into each others eyes
lunge, f/w slow every which way
simple rotational lift
this is too long
rotational lift with her at an angle, sort of like D&W's Samson lift
to end
Lost speed at end
fd 65.72
total 105.91
1st

Hubbells
Ocean Club by Yello; Jungle Bill by Yello; Moments in Love by Art of Noise; Jungle Bill by Yello
She's in sparkly kelly green. Skirt slit up
white shirt black pants, suspenders him
this is strange music.l The feed?
lift between his legs
in place hokey pokey
jump in twizzles 2nd set decent
high kicks
'f/w with besti squats
kind of ragged
lift around the neck into him in crouch, her in layout
hydroblade lift they always do
pair spin good speed in it
lift with a lot of changes, positions very distinct
rotational lift
plain skating
she lays back holding him
f/w
he cartwheels
end pose (they didn't fall!)
Krylova with them in the KnC
FD 76.48
Overall 120.95
1st

Yu and Wang
Beethoven's last night
He in in a kind of greek tunic effect with gray paints, and a sash
and a diagonal strip in blue, silver, black
raggy ruffles on her sleeves
lift, pose with angst
lots of emoting into twizzles y arms on 2nd set, third set
f/w
this is better than their sd
biellman lift off his foot
could this moment last forever
pair spin
every moment of tomorrow
lift
screen freeze refresh
s/l f/w frantic
they are running out of steam on this rotational lift
she slides down his front into a lift
to end
There are things I like about this program
69.13
new sb
114.46
into 2nd

Ralph and Hill
Summertime
White dress reminiscent of Tessa Virtue but with a very much deeper V
light brown pants wife beater t shirt white shirt open on hill
into pair spin
he pulls her around on the side of her boot
f/w he stumbles a bit to one side recovers
rotational lift
reverse rotational lift
speed both ways nice
hop into twizzles 2nd set
some kind of African sounding music suddenly
with bongoes
he has nice smoothing stroking
steps into his hand pose fall back into another lift pose
end pose
Does every program they have have to have bongoes and Arican music?
They may need a different coach
fd 71.41
overall 119.51
2nd

Huang Zheng
American in Paris
He's in a grey shirt, white sweater vest, dark grey pants
She's in a pale pink wispy sort of dress with long rags
hanging off her sleeves and a scoop neck with a ruffle edge
Singin in the Rain
f/w she twizzles under his arm
simple spread eagle with girl in backbend lift
twizzles quite fast
slower the other way
third set for the level
jumps into lift with 3? changes of position
now another lift
posing to rest
music change
back to singing in the rain
pair spin kind of slow
choo choo sort of music
feed off?
f/w supposed to be tapdance but
this f/w is not doing it
some kind of swing step?
f/w again
he's getting a bit wild
windmill arms
quick flip lift
another lift to end
FD 74.90
Overall 124.60
into 1st
2nd in the FD though

Hoffman/Zavozin
Gypsy Witch
He's in a white puffy sleeve shirt, black vest & pants
kneeling, with his head down, sunk in thought? dispair?
She's in a dark patterned dress, red in the bodice
Witch pose. she picks him up
into pairs spin
cackling laugh
twizzles to laughter and choral
quick, quite tidy
they are much the fastest so far
f/w pretty good
lift rotations
she has him caught
on ice posing
he pulls her up
complex lift into a hydroblade double
she's in a split lift leaning back against him
rotational lift
better control than Nebelhorn
f/w again
they kept up the frantic energy of the piece till the end
they hug
I think they're happy with it
finally bow
fd 78.13
overall 130.82
into 1st

Bobrova/Soloviev
White Nights
He's in simple white on white print shirt/black pants
She's in fancy dress with complex fake jewelry sort of neckline
red over white underskirt with some pink & green net too
pretty clip in her hair
twizzles all shot to heck out of sync
lift into layback on his knees nice arms
lot of hand to hand skating
flip into a lift, puts her down in a lunge
pair spin
reverse spin not as good kind of slow and peters out
toesteppy things by her
fw
nice snappy twizzle in the f/w
rotational lift
besti squats
fast rotational lift to end
a lot of posing after the music and they might get a time
deduction for it OTOH, they weren't skating????
FD 89.54 (huge score for them)
Overall 145.39
Into 1st
I enjoyed the Hungarians more.

Faiella / Scali
Flamenco (Manolete)
She's in a simple dark red halter dress.with pleating over the bust
Skirt a bit long again
He's in a bright blue bull fighter suit
overburdened with tons of gold braid (my eyes hurt)
jump into twizzles
lift a bit labored
flamenco arms and effect
f/w nice edges
she pulls him around on the ice
pair spin he's in a donut and she's driving the spin
her in a layback
Nice!
They both fall after a very dramatic lift. He has stepped on her skirt again.
then a nice lift
To on ice posing
off they go again in f/w
the footwork has a nice flamenco feel to it
rotational lift to end (he falls dead, she's holding him up)
He says I missed her. He says I have never shakes head
Hi Iceworks
We are in trouble he says Unbelievable
We get a special award
FD 82.31
Overall 119.52
into 2nd

Pechalat Bourzat
Charlie Chaplin
Red is it tonight
Nathalie in red with a white collar trim, red and white bow
Fabian in a red jacket, grey pan ts, greeny yellow tie, vest, with big
ecru flower on his chest
Miming motions to start
she lies back sitting on his lap with gesturing
f/w bright, happy skippy
into twizzles slow on 2nd set 3rd set
complex lift with her flipping over a lot
simple rotational lift
this is quite charming
f/w very smooth
into Chaplin them
pair spin
I like the twist under his arm into reverse spin
Lifts her up walking
flips over his back
music change
They pose
Very nice
Coach says You were wonderful (they were)
FD 95.47
Overall 159.39
1st

I know! I hope Federica has shorter skirts by Rostelecom Cup. Long skirts do not work well in figure skating.

Massimo agree with you according to what he was saying when he was leaving the ice!

Apart from the mistakes I love the program...it's a pity they've fallen but I kind of expected that..lat week I saw one of their training clip and when I saw that lift I was thinking "let's hope for a short skirt otherwise they'll be in trouble"...but when this program will be skated perfectly it will be wonderflu! I'm sure!

I liked pechalat a bourzat more than I expected! I'm not a fan of their arrangement of charlie chaplin (it comes to my mind oda's charlie chaplin of last year..it was perfect IMO) but they skated really well and fully deserved the gold medal!